Parametric Study Relating to Buckling of Stringer Stiffened Cylindrical Shells with Cutouts

The effects of stringer eccentricity, shell length, cutouts, and boundary conditions have been studied for cylindrical shells under axial compression considering four generalized simple support and four clamped boundary conditions. Buckling loads were determined through the STAGS computer code with its linear bifurcation branch and smeared stringer theory incorporating an energy formulation and a finite difference technique. Results of the present theory, when compared to classical linear theory, show that a rigorous prebuckling analysis has a significant influence on the analysis of stringer stiffened cylinders. It was found that cutouts do not significantly change a stringer stiffened shell's sensitivity to in-plane boundary conditions but cause a substantial reduction in critical loads for externally stiffened shells. The detrimental effects of cutouts are less apparent in cylindrical shells with internal stringers. The u = 0 axial restraint is the most important factor in buckling of axially compressed, stringer stiffened cylinders.